The present invention relates generally to temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which are adapted to be fixedly secured to roadway surfaces in order to, for example, temporarily define traffic lanes or the like within construction zones, work sites, or maintenance or repair areas, and more particularly to a new and improved collated assembly of such temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), and a new and improved system and method for automatically serially applying such collated temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to roadway surfaces in order to in fact temporarily define the traffic lanes or the like within the construction zones, work sites, or maintenance or repair areas.
Various types of roadway markers have been utilized in connection with a variety of traffic control applications. Many roadway markers are adapted to be permanently attached or secured to the road surface so as to permanently delineate traffic lanes upon the roadway, while other roadway markers are adapted to be temporarily attached or secured to particular road surfaces in order to temporarily delineate traffic lanes within construction zones or other work areas. Accordingly, the latter type of roadway markers are known as temporary roadway markers and are usually attached or secured to the road surface by means of a suitable adhesive that can retain the roadway marker in its place upon the road surface during the temporary life of the roadway marker. More particularly, temporary roadway markers can serve, for example, as a means for identifying edge portions of the roadway, or alternatively, to delineate traffic lane lines and thereby demarcate separate lanes of traffic from each other in and around construction sites and other work zones. After the construction or other road work is completed, the temporary roadway markers are removed.
To be effective, the temporary roadway markers must clearly be capable of alerting motorists to the fact that they are nearing or entering a construction zone or work area, and therefore, the temporary roadway markers must in fact be effective both during daytime hours, nighttime hours, sunny conditions, cloudy conditions, inclement weather conditions, and the like. More particularly, one type of temporary roadway marker that has been extremely successful or effective in providing short-term temporary markings upon roadways both during daytime and nighttime hours, and which has also been able to adequately withstand the various impact forces that are normally impressed thereon by daily roadway vehicular traffic so as to in fact provide the desired service life required in connection with the installation of such temporary roadway markers, has been that type of temporary roadway marker which is known in the industry as a temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM). Examples of such temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) are disclosed, for example, within U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,820 which issued to Hughes, Sr. on Aug. 29, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,405 which issued to Beard on Aug. 4, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,115 which issued to Speer et al. on Oct. 24, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,994 which issued to Edouart on Feb. 12, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,803 which issued to Dixon on May 1, 1984.
As can readily be appreciated from FIG. 1, which corresponds-substantially to FIG. 1 of the Speer et al. patent, it is briefly noted that an exemplary temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 is seen to have a substantially L-shaped configuration wherein the horizontally disposed leg portion 12 thereof is adapted to be fixedly secured or attached to the road surface by means of a suitable adhesive which is allowed to set, while the vertically upstanding leg portion 14 is adapted to be visually seen by the oncoming motorist. A transition region 26 flexibly interconnects the vertically upstanding leg portion 14 to the fixed horizontally disposed leg portion or base member 12. A pair of rib members or ledges 28,28 extend substantially perpendicular to the upstanding leg member 14 and serve to define a space or channel 22 therebetween. A suitable reflective strip 23 is adapted to be fixedly disposed within the space or channel 22 so as to reflect sunlight or a vehicle""s lights in order to provide the oncoming motorist, as indicated by the arrow 25, with a visual indication of a traffic lane, or alternatively, that the motorist is entering or approaching a construction zone or work area. Alternatively, in lieu of the reflective strip 23, the entire marker 10 may simply be brightly colored so as to similarly provide the oncoming motorist with the necessary visual warning.
With reference being further made to FIG. 2, a typical, conventional, PRIOR ART temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM), which is similar to the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 disclosed in FIG. 1 of the present drawings as well as within FIG. 1 of the Speer et al. patent, is disclosed at 110 and is seen to likewise have a substantially L-shaped configuration. In particular, the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 comprises a horizontally disposed leg or base member 112, and a vertically upstanding leg member 114 integrally connected to the horizontally disposed leg or base member 112 by means of a transitional region 116. A block or slab of adhesive 118 is fixedly secured to an undersurface or lower face portion of the horizontally disposed leg or base member 112, and in turn, a release sheet 120 is secured to an undersurface or lower face portion of the adhesive slab 118 so as to prevent the adhesive slab 118 from being inadvertently adhesively bonded to any surface, other than that particular location or portion of the roadway to which the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 is to be fixedly secured, prior to the actual fixation of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 upon a selected location or portion of the roadway. As was the case with the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 10 of FIG. 1 of the present drawings as well as those of Speer et al., the upper end portion of the vertically upstanding leg member 114 of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 also comprises a pair of horizontally disposed rib members 122,122 which define a space or channel 124 therebetween for housing or accommodating a suitable reflector strip, not shown. Alternatively, the entire extrusion comprising the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 may be fabricated from a suitable plastic material which is brightly colored, that is, it may be fabricated from a suitable resin material which is white or yellow.
The temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 are normally placed upon the roadway surface during an extended period of time that construction or other road work is being performed upon the roadway surface, and therefore, the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 are normally placed upon the roadway surface prior to the completion of the entire construction or other road work as well as the application of the permanent traffic lane lines to the roadway surface. Accordingly, in order to protect the reflector strip, not shown, which is adapted to be disposed, housed, or accommodated within the space or channel 124 defined between the pair of horizontally disposed rib members 122,122, or alternatively, in order to protect the upper portion of the vertically upstanding leg member 114, when such portion of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 is to be used as the visual warning to oncoming motorists, from road paving materials, debris, and the like, a protective cover 126, fabricated from a suitable clear plastic material and having a substantially inverted U-shaped configuration, is disposed over the upper free edge portion of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110. When the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 are to be subsequently used in conjunction with, for example, their traffic lane delineation functions, the protective covers 126 are removed, and still further, when the need for the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 is no longer required in view of the completion of the construction or other roadwork, and the application of the permanent traffic lane lines to the roadway surface has been performed, the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 themselves will obviously be removed from the roadway surface.
Until now, the process for mounting and securing the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 upon the roadway surfaces has been accomplished manually whereby construction workmen or other personnel would have to manually deposit the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) 110 onto the roadway surface as a result of, for example, removing the release sheet 120 from the undersurface portion of the adhesive slab 118 and pressing the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 onto the roadway surface so as to cause the adhesive bonding of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 to the roadway surface. In view of the fact that the construction workmen or other personnel are physically present upon the particular roadway surface during the performance of such temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) application operations onto the roadway surface, the workmen or personnel are undesirably exposed to dangerous vehicular conditions present upon the roadway. In addition, the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) 110 application procedures are quite tedious, time-consuming, and problematic.
More particularly, it is noted that in connection with one conventional technique for currently fabricating temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) are initially manufactured as elongated structures having the aforenoted substantially L-shaped cross-sectional configuration, and the adhesive material and release liner components are then applied to the undersurface portions of the relatively short, normally horizontally disposed leg members thereof. Subsequently, the elongated structures are cut at predetermined locations thereof so as to provide finalized temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) having predetermined width dimensions. As can therefore be readily appreciated, however, as a result of such cutting or severing operations, the adhesive material and release liner components, as disposed upon the finalized temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), will have the same lateral extents, and therefore, the end portions of the release liner do not project laterally beyond the end portions of the adhesive material. Accordingly, the end portions of the adhesive material are effectively uncovered and exposed which presents problems in connection with the mechanical feeding of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) within automated machinery, as well as in connection with the packaging of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs). Still further, it is to be noted and appreciated that when the adhesive material is applied to or deposited upon the undersurface portion of the relatively short leg of the elongated temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) structure, the adhesive is applied or deposited in a heated state.
Subsequently, the adhesive material will cool, and as a result of the cooling process, the adhesive material undergoes a predetermined amount of shrinkage or contraction. Such shrinkage or contraction effectively forms a bond between the primary mass of the adhesive material and the release liner which effectively defines a line of demarcation or boundary which is known as a feather-edge bond. The feather-edge bond is very flexible and tends to bend along with the release liner. Accordingly, when it is attempted to remove the release liner from the adhesive material, in preparation for the application of each one of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to the pavement surface, the feather-edge bond structure is placed in tension, and it has been noted that the tensile strength characteristics of the feather-edge bond structure are greater than the force levels normally required to peel the release liner from the adhesive material as well as the tensile or shear strength characteristics of the release liner per se. It can therefore be appreciated further that when the release liner is desired to be removed from its associated temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM), not only is such an operation difficult to achieve, but it often happens that the release liner and/or the adhesive material disposed upon the undersurface portion of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) is damaged which can render the use of the particular temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) unsuitable.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved collated assembly of such temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which will enable the new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to be automatically applied to roadway surfaces by means of a new and improved system and method wherein the aforenoted operational drawbacks and disadvantages, characteristic of conventional or PRIOR ART temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), and the methods and techniques for applying such conventional or PRIOR ART temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to roadway surfaces, are effectively overcome.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), and a new and improved system and method for automatically serially applying such collated temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to roadway surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), and a new and improved system and method for automatically serially applying such collated temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to roadway surfaces, which effectively overcome the various structural and operational drawbacks and disadvantages characteristic of PRIOR ART temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs), as well as the methods and techniques for applying such temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) to roadway surfaces.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which will readily facilitate the separation of each one of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) from its release liner so that the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) can be readily and easily applied to roadway surfaces.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which will readily facilitate the separation of each one of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) from its release liner so that the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) can be readily, easily, and automatically applied in a serial manner to roadway surfaces by means of the new and improved system and method of the present invention.
A last object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) which will readily facilitate the separation of each one of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) from its release liner so that the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) can be readily, easily, and automatically applied in a serial manner to roadway surfaces by means of the new and improved system and method of the present invention whereby operator personnel are not exposed to the hazards and dangers inherently characteristic of manual temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) application techniques and methods.
The foregoing and other objectives are achieved in accordance with the teachings and principles of the present invention through the provision of a new and improved collated assembly of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) wherein each one of the plurality of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) has the undersurface portion of its adhesive material block mounted upon a single elongated release liner or release sheet such that the plurality of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) are longitudinally separated from each other by means of predetermined spaces. Subsequently, the plurality of temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) are disposed in an overlapped or nested mode or state, and in accordance with a unique and novel feature characteristic of the present invention, the single elongated release liner or release sheet is disposed in a substantially fan-folded manner between each one of the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) such that, as considered in the longitudinal direction of the release sheet or release liner, a portion of the fan-folded release sheet or release liner is disposed longitudinally inwardly from or forwardly of the longitudinal rear edge portion of the adhesive material block of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) as considered in the direction of movement of the automatic apparatus for applying or depositing the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) onto or upon the roadway surface.
Accordingly, it can be appreciated further that the aforenoted feather-edge bond boundary defined upon each temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) between the release sheet or release liner, and the adhesive material block, is disposed at a longitudinal position which is located longitudinally inwardly from or forwardly of the longitudinal rear edge portion of the adhesive material block of the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM). Consequently, when the particular temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) is to be applied to or deposited upon the roadway surface, the fan-folded portion of the release sheet or release liner, as disposed beneath the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM), will now be unfolded whereby the aforenoted feather-edge bond boundary defined upon the temporary raised pavement marker (TRPM) between the release sheet or release liner, and the adhesive material block, will effectively be recombined with and integrally incorporated within the primary adhesive material block. Due to the greater affinity characteristics of the feather-edge bond with respect to the adhesive material block, as opposed to the affinity characteristics of the feather-edge bond with respect to the release sheet or release liner, the existence of the feather-edge bond has been effectively eliminated along with the operational difficulties of separating or peeling the release liner or release sheet from the adhesive material block. Thus, the temporary raised pavement markers (TRPMs) can be readily and easily serially separated from the single release liner or release sheet and accordingly applied to or deposited upon the roadway surface.